Now the freebies are over, Win 7 rebounds and Win 10 uptake declines

[bill]

Now the freebies are over, Windows 7 rebounds and Windows 10 uptake declines [theinquirer.net]

WINDOWS 7 use saw a sharp rise in market share this month at the expense of Windows 8.x and, worryingly for Microsoft, the current Windows 10.

The latest figures from Net Applications’ Netmarketshare [netmarketshare.com] service show Windows 7, now over seven years old, gain a full percentage point to bolster its place as the world’s most popular desktop operating system with 48.27 per cent (+1.02 on last month).

Full percentage point changes are increasingly rare, especially for an operating system which has declined from an all-time high of 52.34 per cent in March.

Meanwhile, Windows 10 use was down slightly at 22.53 per cent (-0.46), not a direction that Microsoft will want to see, although it’s more than likely just a blip.

[martinibuster]

I'm on the email list for various computer/office supply vendors and I've been seeing a large amount of Win 7 Pro boxes going on sale.

[keyplyr]

Maybe M$ needs to offer incentives to vendors to update those machines prior to being released in the wild.

How much longer does Windows7 get security support?

[engine]

Microsoft's problem is they have morphed a reasonable OS into a tracking device, and many people don't want that.

[keyplyr]

Many probably don't like the tracking, but there's so much tracking from everywhere on the internet, I would think for most it's not a deal breaker, even if they do understand it all.

[bill]

Some people take the defeatist stance that tracking is everywhere and there's nothing they can do. However, the resurgence of interest in Windows 7 shows that there are a lot of people who do understand the importance of this. They're voting with their wallets.

[keyplyr]

Not sure this report of Windows 7 gaining "a full percentage point" reflects any "resurgence of interest" only the conclusion by the writer of that article.

Assuming good science was present at
netmarketshare.com, there are still numerous other possibilities why Windows 7 gained marketshare.

Vendors probably have a significant backstock of Windows 7 bundled machines they may be offering at discount boasting Window 10 compatibility. I upgraded from 7pro to 10pro.

I know where I live there is certainly no interest in Windows 7 legacy systems, but then my area is high tech compared to most.

[bill]

OK. Maybe resurgence wasn't the best choice of words.

If the Netmarketshare stats are to be believed we could either say that people are still adding Win7 machines, or they are reverting Win10 installs back to Win7. That could be due to incompatibility with hardware/software, a poor experience with Win10, or a desire not to be tracked this way. (Likely the former) I'm probably overly optimistic that it shows the latter.

[tangor]

Win 10 has yet to enter its key market: Enterprise level

What HAS happened is small biz has discovered Win10 is NOT their best friend and does not have their interests at heart.

I have, to date rolled back, either via backups or fresh reinstalls, 300+ small biz clients who have encountered the MS in-your-face paradigm, or suffered updates that undo their settings. Multiply me by 10-1000 and that might be a per cent. :)

[keyplyr]

I suspect 7 & 8* will soon have the same "tracking"

[webmasterworld.com...]

[jetteroheller]

If governments would make a "free choice" at OS, Windows would decline like Internet Explorer.

So many users even do not know, that it's possible to buy computers without Windows preinstalled.

[engine]

>So many users even do not know, that it's possible to buy computers without Windows preinstalled.

Absolutely, and that's, in part, because they can make more money on Windows, i'm sure.

[mack]

I suspect a lot of people upgraded to Windows 10 simply because of the constant nagging from within Windows 7. The upgrade popup appeared to annoy a lot of users. Without that and the option of a free upgrade there really was no other reason to upgrade.

Mack.

[Libre]

So how concerned should users be about Windows 10’s default data collection policies? I would say very.

By default Windows 10 Home is allowed to control your bandwidth usage, install any software it wants whenever it wants (without providing detailed information on what these updates do), display ads in the Start Menu (currently it has been limited to app advertisements), send your hardware details and any changes you make to Microsoft and even log your browser history and keystrokes which the Windows End User Licence Agreement (EULA) states you allow Microsoft to use for analysis.

[forbes.com ]

I don't even understand why businesses would use Windows 10 anyway!

^{A happy linux user!}

[engine]

I'm not defending it, but you can turn a lot of that off.
I've said it before, and will keep on saying, tracking has gotten out of hand. Anyone on the Net ought to be better educated about tracking, and how to disable as much as possible.

[tangor]

Sadly, you can't turn ALL of it off. The only way to do that is to PAY for the Enterprise version of Win 10. At present that is the only version of Win10 that still allows admins to execute group policy and security settings they NEED.

[superclown2]

I find Windows 7 an absolute delight to use. I have stacks of high end software that runs happily on it and I can't think of a single reason to change it. Conversely I can think of many other reasons not to touch this %^&*$ with a bargepole and it beats me how it can be called an 'upgrade' at all. Developers apart, I reckon that most users have been victims of a clever advertising campaign.

[keyplyr]

"He not busy being born is busy dying." - Bob Dylan

+++++++++++

Next feature update on October 26

[superclown2]

Next feature update on October 26

Sure, but an operating system is just that. Right now we can get all the features we want by buying the right software. All many of us ask of an OS is that it is stable, fast, simple and secure. We don't want to risk our carefully and expensively constructed systems on something completely new and we certainly don't want to be re-training staff all the time, particularly on an OS which it is potentially illegal for many companies (at least here in the UK) to use owing to the confidentiality issues. Maybe one day there will be software that we really need and which will only run on Win 10; if that day arrives we may have to have another look at it but that day certainly hasn't come yet.

Over here in the UK people are looking to MS for compensation after their Win 7 was downgraded to Win 10 without their knowledge. They are not convinced of this spyware's 'benefits' either. [bbc.co.uk ]

[jetteroheller]

When I am asked to recommend a notebook, only notebooks without OS to install Linux.

Last time I was asked by an old friend, who did not use computers since a decade.
His long time unused last notebook was a Windows ME with 128 MB RAM, 6 GB HD.

Now he has an Acer ES1-531-P8JN with Linux Ubuntu 16.04.

There was in 2000 a big action for "use only web standard supporting browsers".
What's about a big action about "choice of the right OS"?

There was 2009 the free browser choice initiative in the EU
[en.wikipedia.org...]

What's about a free OS choice initiative?

After all the update terror, after 2 bad updates, the chances are great to make this happen.

[keyplyr]

"After all the update terror, after 2 bad updates"

What terror? What 2 bad updates?

[engine]

The last update has caused one of my laptops to suffer BSOD on a regular basis. Not sure what's gone wrong but a rollback hasnt cured it. This four y/o machine was running perfectly until then.

[keyplyr]

Sorry to hear that engine. I guess I'm fortunate to not have had any problems on 2 Windows machines.

[jetteroheller]

Update terror is, when the update message appears even in TV at the weather preview.
Update terror is, when some GB download are done unwanted on very expensive internet connections.

There are 2 reports about trouble causing updates in mass media.

[mcneely]

What's about a free OS choice initiative?

People have been spoon-fed updates automatically for years from Windows and Mac -- Linux doesn't have that auto-update feature so using it would most certainly ensure that critical updates for many would never happen.

People can't be much bothered with updating their OS Software on a regular basis - Hence the reason for auto-updates.

If Linux came bundled with an auto-update feature, then people might be more inclined to choosing it over the others - Linux is certainly lighter, far more stable, and with less backweb and bloatware than the others, but like with any OS Software, it's useless if it doesn't get the needed or otherwise required updates.

If you give people the choice of which OS Software they want, I would not want Linux to be on the list until it's developers could come up with an auto-update feature for it.

[pawas]

I upgraded my Entertainment PC to Win10, now that I have used it for a few months, I would never update my Win7 work PC. Win10 simply isn't that refined. Simplest of example, I like to create keyboard shortcuts of handy programs i.e. Calculator. There is a lag of 3 seconds for opening programs through keyboard shortcut.

[tangor]

The last update has caused one of my laptops to suffer BSOD on a regular basis. Not sure what's gone wrong but a rollback hasnt cured it.

Try running Win7 REPAIR on that machine. You'll need an installation or recovery disk, but this usually fixes most errors left behind by Win10 mucking about with the Win7 registry.

[Libre]

If you give people the choice of which OS Software they want, I would not want Linux to be on the list until it's developers could come up with an auto-update feature for it.

Are four ways enough to put ubuntu on the list?
[help.ubuntu.com...]

[samwest]

I just lost 3 days of work due to the C drive going to 100% utilization under Windows 10. Had to shut down windows search and superfetch but why doesn't Windows 10 handle this? I think it's all a MS plan to stifle progress...or they are simply inept.

[JAB Creations]

There is the possibility of there being an anomaly in the statistics but most people who have work to complete and already know what they're doing disregarded 10 or fought to get it off their computer. Microsoft doesn't comprehend the idea that people don't feel the need to relearn something they already know just so they can sell another version of Windows. Windows 10 wasn't even half completed when released. Microsoft has made the monumental mistake of forcing their software developers to meet a marketing sales release date. Software doesn't care, software simply is and it either is ready or it's not. There is too much emphasis on the cloud services and they destroyed things like ALT+Tab. I was forced to use Windows 10 at a client's place and while I managed to tame most of the nonsense changes that they had implemented I still had to use the keyboard's ALT+Tab instead of being able to assign it do it it's A-B-C-D switching action instead of A-B-A-B-A-B classic action (browser / code editor switching as a web developer). The new start menu is atrocious further justifying the need for Classic Shell and having to registry edit to get rid the goofy pointless cover screen is another annoyance. The way to make lots of money is to make sure your users are happy, not pester them with half or even quarter baked attempts to monetize everything. They can't even be bothered to label the releases 10 Beta 1, 10 Beta 2, 10.1, 10.2; their version numbers make absolutely no sense like Intel's CPU model numbers.

John